TEMPE — Colorado's shooting was mediocre and its rebounding was inconsistent. All the while, the veteran Buffaloes never looked concerned, grinding out impressive defensive possessions until a few shots finally fell.
The end result was a rare 68-61 road win over ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State on Thursday night. It snapped No. 20 Colorado's six-game losing streak on the Sun Devils' home floor and further solidifies the team's standing in the upper-tier of the Pac-12.
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“It feels so good,†Colorado guard McKinley Wright said. “We talked about it all week in practice: Championship teams have to win on the road and our end goal is a Pac-12 championship. It starts here — it starts on the road together and we got one.â€
The Buffaloes (14-3, 3-1 Pac-12) are off to their best 17-game start since the 2013-14 season. Tyler Bey led Colorado with 19 points and Lucas Siewert added 14. Wright had 11 points despite shooting just 4 of 15 from the field and Shane Gatling scored 10.
Colorado won its first road game in conference play and has won seven of eight overall. Siewert hit 4 of 6 3-pointers and Bey made his only attempt from long range to give the Buffaloes some much-needed offense.
It was a disjointed, physical game that was equal parts good defense and bad shooting. Colorado made a few shots in a row midway though the second half and an 11-0 run pushed its lead to 44-32 with 10:35 left.
“Our guys did what they had to do,†Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “Sometimes you've got to win ugly on the road. That's what we did."
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State (10-7, 1-3) has dropped five of its last seven. The Sun Devils pulled within 49-44 with about 7 minutes left but Siewert responded with his fourth 3-pointer to stop the rally.
“We had our chances,†ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State coach Bobby Hurley said. “Really anybody had the chance to take command of the game. We went empty — had some turnovers, missed some free throws. We were never able to gain any momentum.â€
Remy Martin scored 25 points and Romello White had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Sun Devils, who shot just 30% from the field in the second half, including 4 of 19 (21%) from 3-point range.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State's players besides Martin and White combined to shoot just 6 of 35 (17%) from the field.
“We need some other guys to be a little more consistent than they were tonight,†Hurley said.
Wright made a layup with 33 seconds left before halftime to tie the game 28-all going into the break. The Buffaloes struggled on offense for much of the half, shooting just 9 of 27 (33%) from the field. But their defense was terrific, just as its been for most of the season.
Colorado came into Thursday giving up 61.3 points per game, which ranks second in the Pac-12.
“That's all we talk about is defense at halftime or before the game,†Bey said. “We don't really talk about offense because we let that just come to us.â€
Siewert helped the Buffaloes early by scoring 11 points off the bench in the first half, making 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State was led by Martin's 12 points.
The two teams already played once this year, Nov. 8 in China. The Buffaloes won 81-71 but it didn't count as a conference game.
Washington State forward Jeff Pollard (13) shoots as Oregon center N'Faly Dante (1) defends during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/Pete Caster)
WASHINGTON STATE 72, No. 8 OREGON 61
PULLMAN, Wash. — After scoring a season-low in points in his last game, CJ Elleby was the go-to guy for Washington State against No. 8 Oregon.
Elleby scored 25 points and Washington State beat a Top-10 team for just the third time, surprising Oregon on Thursday night.
Elleby, who was held to six points against Stanford, helped Washington State (11-7, 2-3 Pac-12) to its first win over a Top-10 opponent since 2007.
“I know my team trusts me to take shots,†Elleby said. “We knew it was going to be a fight and we had to buckle down in areas. We couldn’t give them nothing easy. I think we just shot and executed really well tonight.â€
Elleby shot 9 for 20, including 4 for 7 from 3-point range, and added a season-high 14 rebounds. Isaac Bonton finished with 12 points and six assists, and Jeff Pollard scored 11 for the Cougars.
“It was a really great effort for our guys. We stayed the course,†WSU Coach Kyle Smith said. “We knew we had to keep them out of transition. We didn’t do a great job of that in the first half. We turned it over 11 times. In the second half, we didn’t turn it over as much and that took a little steam out of them.â€
Payton Pritchard had 22 points and five assists for Oregon (14-4, 3-2), which had its three-game winning streak halted. Chris Duarte had 15 points for the Ducks.
The Cougars were able to keep the game close in a first half that saw five lead changes by shooting 8 for 12 from beyond the arc. Oregon went on a 13-3 run at the end of the half that was capped by a step-back 3 from Pritchard to enter the break up 37-34.
Washington State started the second half quickly, going on a 11-0 run to take a 47-39 lead with 15:38 left in the second. Oregon responded with a 9-0 run of their own to tie the game at 50 with 10:15 left.
Trailing by five points with 3:24 left, Pritchard made a clutch jumper in the paint for Oregon and then converted a free throw to make it 60-58.
On the ensuing possession, Elleby converted a three-point play to make the score 63-58.
Washington State then went on a 9-0 run that closed out Oregon.
“They played better and harder than us,†Oregon Coach Dana Altman said. “They had way too many second chance points. They beat us in the second half off of points off turnovers and just did a lot of things better than us.
USC 88, CALIFORNIA 56
LOS ANGELES — Jonah Mathews scored 19 points, Daniel Utomi added 17 and Southern California defeated California on Thursday night for its eighth win in its last nine games.
Onyeka Okongwu had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans (14-3, 3-1 Pac-12), who led for all but the first 101 seconds. USC made 14 3-pointers, with Utomi sinking four and Mathews three.
Matt Bradley led Cal with 13 points and Kareem South scored 12. The Golden Bears (8-9, 2-2 Pac-12) shot just 33.9% from the field as they had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Bradley gave Cal its only lead with a layup 33 seconds into the game. The Trojans then scored the next six points and led the rest of the way.
South's jumper brought the Golden Bears within 22-19 when the Trojans scored 11 of the next 12 points to put it out of reach. Utomi had four points during the run as USC was three of four from the field and made a pair of 3-pointers.
USC led 42-25 at halftime and extended its lead to 34 late in the second half.
WASHINGTON 64, OREGON STATE 56
SEATTLE — Isaiah Stewart scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, RaeQuan Battle scored 11 first-half points in the first start of his career, and Washington beat Oregon State 64-56 on Thursday night.
Washington (12-6, 2-3 Pac-12) rebounded from a miserable trip to the Bay Area with a pair of losses last week thanks to a new-look lineup that provided the Huskies a needed spark. Jaden McDaniels did not play after starting the first 17 games. McDaniels did suffer an ankle injury in the overtime loss to California last Saturday.
With McDaniels not playing, Battle was inserted into the starting lineup and gave Washington the kind of outside presence it needed with a trio of 3-pointers in the first half. The shooting from the outside opened up the lane for Stewart in the second half as the Beavers were unable to run constant double teams at Washington’s star freshman.
Stewart made 6 of 9 shots, while Marcus Tsohonis scored 12 points off the bench in his first extensive action of the season. Jamal Bey and Nahziah Carter both added 10. The Huskies were 9 of 22 on 3-pointers, and made 6 of 11 in the first half. They were shooting just 31.7% on 3s entering the game.
Kylor Kelley led Oregon State (12-5, 2-3) with 16 points and Tres Tinkle added 15. But Tinkle was just 2 of 12 from the field and the Beavers missed their first eight 3-point attempts. It was a dud of a response by the Beavers after last Sunday’s impressive home win over ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
Washington led by as many as 18 in the second half, but it was a big first 20 minutes and the unexpected contribution from Battle that keyed the victory
Battle had appeared in just six games and played a total of 35 minutes scoring eight points. But he was an unexpected starter with McDaniels not playing and Washington still adjusting to losing starting point guard Quade Green last week when he was ruled academically ineligible.
Battle knocked down his first shot on a corner 3 on Washington’s first possession. It was the start of a big first-half when the Huskies got just two points from Stewart.
